I Hate Kindergarten (But You're Okay)
by ChubbyPanda14
Summary: AU One-shot. Tom Riddle absolutely did not want to go to Kindergarten. He was positive he would be surrounded by idiots. But that was before he met the green eyed boy in his tree. Can be seen as Pre-Slash or Friendship


**I Hate Kindergarten (But You're Okay)**

Tom Riddle did not want to go to Kindergarten. And it wasn't because he didn't want to leave his parents, or because he was shy.

It was because people were (and still are) stupid and not worth his time.

Tom was important. His mother said so, and that made it true. And important people didn't waste time learning how to use scissors (which he already knew how to do) or playing with Legos or little dolls.

So Tom was in a very bad mood when his mother handed him off to a plump woman with a mustache in high heels that would likely break under her weight.

The woman was scowling at him (but she was doing this to all the children on the playground so it wasn't specific hatred). She reminded him of a big, mean bulldog.

Toms' mother got down on her knees so she could look at him in the eye. It was a very degrading position for someone as rich as his mother, but it secretly made Tom very happy that his mum cared about him enough to mess up her nice clothes.

"Okay, Tom. It's time for me to go," She paused and seemed really sad for some reason. He looked around and noticed that a lot of the parents around seemed to be tearing up, too. It was a parent thing, then. "I'll be back to get you at two o'clock, okay?"

"I don't want to be here. This is stupid."

His mum sighed. "Tom, please, we've talked about this." She gestured to the dog-like woman in the heels. "This is your teacher, Ms. Marge. You have to listen to what she says."

Before Tom could reply, his mother had pulled him into a hug. Tom was always awkward with displays of affection (Mother said he got it from his father), but Tom knew his mum would be sad with him if he pushed her away.

So he put his arms around her and hugged her lightly back to keep her from breaking down into a sobbing mess. It wouldn't do for all of these children to assume he was a mummy's boy (the fact that all the other children weren't paying any attention to him whatsoever slipped his mind completely).

She pulled away and, to his horror, seemed to be tearing up. She seemed to sense his dismay, so she kissed him on the forehead and told him "Behave, Tom. Try to make some friends. I'll be back at two." Then she was gone.

Ms. Marge looked over at him from where she was talking (or grunting, it was open to interpretation) and saw he was alone, she jerked her head over to the playground. Then she continued her conversation with the parent. It seemed the mother was upset that her child (a dirty blond girl with a round face) couldn't keep her bunny with her in school. Apparently not having the stupid toy made the girl burst into tears at odd moments without it.

Tom walked over to the playground, silently observing his new environment. There were three sets of swings, two slides, and a jungle gym. Kids were running and screaming like wild animals, and Tom mentally sneered. Hadn't they ever been taught about manners? Or how to behave in public?

Tom was (rightfully) disgusted.

He walked straight over to a small tree that was kind of off to the side of the main playground. He sat in the shade and analyzed everything in great detail. He had a perfect view, and his father had once told him that it was important to know everything about the people around you so you can use them to your advantage later in life. And in a close-knit community like theirs, it was likely that these were the people he would be stuck with for his entire schooling.

The dog-lady had apparently won the toy argument, as the little blond girl was sitting with an Indian girl with a long black braid. She looked like she was doing okay without it, but she kept rubbing her eyes. It was likely she would have an episode before the day was over.

There was a sandy haired boy with large ears and a dark skinned boy kicking a ball around the empty area near the parking lot.

A pale blond boy who seemed to be getting a little sunburnt was showing off some cards to a group of children. Tom recognized him; he was Draco Malfoy. Draco's father was Toms' fathers right hand in the company they worked for, so the two children had met on several occasions. Tom had spent enough time around him to know that he had a severe Pokémon addiction.

There was also a girl with insanely bushy hair and rather large front teeth helping a round-faced boy up off the ground. He had obviously just tripped, and he seemed to do it a lot, if the exasperated expression on the girls' face was anything to go by.

A short, plump woman with brown hair and a motherly look about her was dropping off a gangly boy with flaming red hair. She was, apparently, an expert at the parent thing, since she wasn't shedding a single tear (though she did look rather sad).

Apparently that was the last child they were waiting for, because soon after the brown haired woman left, Ms. Marge blew a whistle and all of the children gathered around her.

Tom sighed and got off the ground. It was time for this ugly, fat woman to try and teach him something he didn't already know.

**XDXDXDXDXDXDXD**

After a few seemingly endless hours, Tom had made the very serious conclusion that Kindergarten was evil and should be banned from the educational system as soon as humanly possible.

He had been forced to sit at a small round table with the gangly red head and the Indian girl. They were told to introduce themselves, and Tom was forced to listen about the red-heads endless amount of siblings, and the girl who was apparently being separated from her twin sister for the first time since she was in the other class. Tom had simply said his name.

Then the children were given their first assignment; write as many numbers in order as you can. Tom had the highest, fifty, and the closest was the bushy haired girl, who got to twenty three. Tom was very grateful for his father, who had made him learn all of these kindergarten things beforehand so that he could be ahead of the others. It wouldn't do for a Riddle to look stupid.

After many more tedious worksheets and horrible getting-to-know-you activities that both Tom and Ms. Marge seemed to hate, it was lunch. They were served stale animal crackers (Tom didn't even know those could get stale!) and spoiled milk. Then they went to class for, what they called, "Afternoon play-time" which really meant that they played with the stupid toys in the classroom for the last two hours of the day. It was during this time that the rabbit girl had her break down, and her mother had to come and collect her.

After all of this, the day was finally over. Tom just needed to wait for his mother to come and take him home, where he would calmly explain that he was never coming back.

Most of the parents had been in the parking lot when school was let out, and they had gotten to leave immediately. Tom was one of the few who were left on the playground. He didn't have a problem with this and went to sit under the same tree he had been under that morning.

It was a relief to be away from all of the constant talking, crying, laughing, and general noise that all of the other people in the school felt it necessary to produce. His tree felt like a sanctuary, with its' beautiful leaves that were already turning into fall colors, and the large branches that shaded him from the sun. It even had a…

Was that a _person_?

Tom jumped up from the ground to get a better look and stared at the figure in the tree. It looked like a boy, and he was staring right back at him with large green eyes.

"What are you doing in _my_ tree?" Tom called up to him, and the boys' eyes narrowed.

"This is _my _tree. I was here _first_."

Tom started to glare at the boy, and it wasn't just a regular glare. It was the special glare he had learned from his father. His dad used it on people that weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing.

And this kid was _supposed _to be getting out of Toms' tree.

'I don't care if you were here first! It's _mine_! Go away!"

"No!"

Tom was so mad he thought about kicking the tree, but stopped himself when he remembered that it didn't turn out well for the people who did it on TV.

Then a whole new question came to him.

"Why are you up there, anyway?" Was the boy trying to avoid going home? Maybe he was one of those rotten kids from the orphanage his mum had told him about. His dad was always telling him that he would send Tom there if Tom was bad.

The kid glared at him even more than he had been doing before. "I don't think that's any of your business!"

"Why are you being such a baby? It's an easy question! Are you slow or something?"

The boy sat up straight on his branch. "I am _not_ slow! Maybe you are! It's just a tree!"

"I'm not slow! I'm smarter than you and everybody else in this stupid school!"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Well, duh! _Everybody_ is smarter than them."

"You aren't any better than them! You probably aren't even in Kindergarten!"

The green-eyed boy got even madder. "I am too in Kindergarten! And I'm the smartest in my class! You don't stand a chance!"

The boy was obviously in the other class, taught by Ms. Figg, the crazy cat lady.

Tom laughed; not even a nice one, more of a cruel and heartless one that he had once used to get his neighbor Collin to stop following him. "Against who? You?"

The boy made an irritated noise and lay down on the branch with his face looking toward the sky. "I'm shunning you." He said simply, and he didn't make another sound.

Tom flopped back down on the ground (elegantly of course. He didn't do improper things like flopping) in the shade of the tree and pretended he was okay with being ignored. But he wasn't. He absolutely hated being ignored. But he also hated losing, and if he caved and started talking to the monkey-boy, he would lose. So he kept his silence and quietly waited.

After about five minutes of unbearably awkward silence, the boy in Toms' tree spoke again. Tom told himself he was happy about winning the game, but inside he knew he was actually happy about the boy wanting to talk to him again.

"What's your name?" Monkey boy asked, sounding awkwardly shy.

"Why should I tell you?" Tom replied. The boy hadn't given him any reason to show good manners, so he wouldn't. Even if his mother would disapprove.

"Because it's rude to fight with someone you don't know."

Tom absolutely did _not _smile, even though it might look that way from a distance. "Those are the best kind of fights," he told the boy in the tree. Then, after a moment of silence, he said "My name is Tom Riddle."

The boy turned onto his stomach on the branch, and green eyes were looking at him again. "I'm Harry Potter. Nice to meet you."

Toms' father often complained about a family called Potter. He said that they were too popular within the community and were all buddy-buddy with Mayor Dumbledore and the school system. If Tom managed to befriend the boy (despite him being an annoying baby) then his father would get mad at him.

So, obviously, that was what he was going to do. "Nice to meet you, too, Harry."

Harry smiled at him. "When's your mum coming to get you? Mine is late 'cause she was at work."

"Mine is probably on her way right now. She said she would be here by two o'clock." Harry nodded in understanding.

Tom remembered the question he had asked Harry before and asked again. "Why're you in that tree?"

Harry looked away for a minute, and it seemed like he wasn't going to answer at all, until he started. 'I was hiding from my cousin."

Tom blinked. "Why would you be hiding from your cousin?" Tom didn't have any living relates, as far as he knew, and he didn't really want any. But he knew that a lot of people liked playing with their family.

Harry hesitated again. "Well, he's quite a bit bigger than me, and he's a first grader…. So he kind of likes to chase me around, you know?"

"No. That doesn't sound like fun."

"It really isn't. Sometimes, he even-" but he stopped as they heard someone calling Toms' name.

Tom looked over and saw his mother waving at him. Surprisingly, Tom wasn't completely happy to see her. He had been trying to make Harry his friend, and she was interrupting.

But he was still very happy to see her. He looked up at Harry, who was looking down at him with a kind of sad face. "This means you're leaving, doesn't it?"

Tom nodded but felt kind of bad. He wished he could tell Harry that he would see him tomorrow, but Tom was never going to come back to Kindergarten. So instead he said, "Goodbye Harry. I hope I can see you again."

Then, he stood up and walked to his mother, who was still waving at him ecstatically. He walked to her calmly and didn't look back, but he could feel Harry staring at his back.

Oh, well. Harry would be okay without him, they had only known each other for half an hour at best. Besides, Tom would one day see Harry again.

And maybe, if Harry was here, Kindergarten wouldn't be that bad if his father made him return.

**CHAPTER END**

**AN: I was inspired! This is another pre-slash for Tom/Harry, because it is my all time favorite pairing and it is drastically under-represented. Please, review and favorite! And maybe check out my other one shot, _Library Partners_, if you liked this one and haven't read the other yet.**


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